The chiefs and people of Ahafo Region have commended President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo for cutting the sod for work to begin on the construction of a solid waste treatment facility for the people of Ahafo
The sod-cutting ceremony came off on Sunday at Kukuom, a suburb of Goaso where the plant is going to be built in the Asunafo North Municipal Assembly of the Ahafo Region.
The Goasomanhene, Nana Kwasi Bosomprah I, spoke highly of the project, and commended President Akufo-Addo and Zoomlion Ghana Limited, for taking such a bold step to build a state-of-the-art solid waste facility in the region.
He said, when Goaso was made the regional capital of Ahafo, managing solid waste was an eye sore and a huge problem.
“So when Zoomlion came to hint me that President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has plans to construct a recycling plant in the region, we all became happy,” he expressed.
He indicated that the chiefs in Ahafo are ready to provide communal labour to support the project “because when completed on schedule, it will stop the practice of indiscriminate dumping of refuse in the region.”
In this regard, the Goasomanhene advised the residents to always separate faecal matter from the refuse.
“This is because I am told that the faecal matter when mixed with the solid waste can damage the machines,” he said.
Nana Bosomprah I called on all his sub and divisional chiefs to pay regular visits to the project site and ascertain how work was progressing.
Also, the Omanhene and Krontihene of Kukuom, Nana Wereko-Ampem II, who represented the Chief of Kukuom, Osahene Kwaku Atakye, said: “Today [Sunday, September 13, 2020] is a historic day for the people of Kukuom and its environs!”
The project, he stressed, was very crucial because where they have been dumping solid waste was causing problems for many of the farmers in the area.
He said that situation compelled the chiefs to appeal to the municipal assembly to shut down the dumping site and give them a new place.
“But as we were waiting for the municipal assembly to take action, we heard the news that the government and Zoomlion had advanced plans to build a recycling plant at the old Kukuom dumpsite,” the Kukuom Krontihene said.
Scores of the people in the region also praised government and Zoomlion for the initiative. They contended that it will help keep their environs clean.
Later, addressing the people, President Akufo-Addo reiterated his government’s resolve to support any good initiative that will inure to the benefit of Ghanaians through public, private partnerships (PPP).
That, he said, was the reason his government was solidly supporting Zoomlion to construct liquid and solid waste treatment plants in the regions to improve sanitation in the country.
According to him, in the past “our forebears maintained good sanitation, therefore, it was incumbent on us to do same or even improve upon what they did.”
The President said many of the diseases recorded in the world today were as a result of bad sanitation practices, adding that the move to build a solid waste plant in Ahafo was a demonstration of his government’s promise to ensure the region has its fair share of the national cake.
For her part, the Minister of Sanitation and Water Resources, Madam Cecilia Abena Dapaah, said “in the past, anytime a visitor enters any town, what first greets you is a heap of refuse, but when President Akufo-Addo assumed the reins of government, he outlined programmes to stop that old phenomenon.”
She revealed that Ahafo alone generates over 380 tons of garbage daily, stating that the solid waste treatment facility will create direct and indirect employment for the people in the region.”
The plant, she said, was the first of its kind in Ahafo, and thus seized the chance to commend Zoomlion Ghana Limited and the Environmental Services Providers Association (ESPA) of Ghana for their contributions towards ensuring that the country was always clean.
The Executive Chairman of Jospong Group of Companies (JGC), Dr Joseph Siaw-Agyepong, disclosed that when completed the plant will receive waste towns including Bechem, Duayaw Nkwanta, Hwediem, Miam, Goaso among others.
